1/06/06 --Bishop William Lori served patrons at the Thomas Merton Center soup kitchen Friday morning. The Bishop has made a tradition of visiting Catholic Charities throughout the Diocese of Bridgeport for the new year. Bishop William E. Lori of the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., has been named the 16th Archbishop of Baltimore. Pope Benedict XVI made the announcement Tuesday. Lori will succeed Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, who served as Baltimore's 15th archbishop from October 2007 to August 2011 when he was named grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

1/06/06 --Bishop William Lori served patrons at the Thomas Merton Center soup kitchen Friday morning. The Bishop has made a tradition of visiting Catholic Charities throughout the Diocese of Bridgeport for the

Concerned that the federal food stamp program might be in jeopardy, U.S Rep. Rosa DeLauro on Wednesday unveiled a guide to hunger rates in America.

The report, by the nonprofit Feeding America, showed that 11.1 percent of residents in Fairfield and Litchfield counties are going hungry, while 14.1 percent of those in New Haven County are going hungry.

In Connecticut, the report says, the hungry number more than 488,000, or 13.6 percent of the population. Nationwide, 49 million Americans, or 16 percent of the population, is food insecure according to the report, Map the Meal Gap.

“(The guide) brings home the reality of hunger in America and the need for programs to help families deal with this issue,” said DeLauro, D-Conn. “Hungry people are our neighbors, our family members, our friends. There’s no reason helping them should be a partisan matter, and that is the message with this new guide.”

A member of the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee, DeLauro said she worries that further funding cuts to the food safety net will be proposed.

In March, Republicans proposed a budget for Fiscal Year 2016 that would cut $125 billion from SNAP — about 34 percent of the program’s funding — over 10 years. In a 2014 “farm bill,” Congress reduced overall federal funding for agriculture and nutrition programs by about 3 percent.

How to help

Food Insecurity in Connecticut*

Fairfield926,23311.1%103,020

Litchfield188,62911.1%20,900

New Haven862,61114.1%121,340

The roughly 2-inch-thick binders were provided to every member of Congress.

Along with hunger rates for every district and state, the guide includes an overview of federal nutrition programs, stories from “witnesses to hunger” that highlight the struggles of food insecure parents and other resources intended to help congressmen fight hunger in their communities.

The guide, which was shared with congressmen electronically last month but publicly announced Wednesday, is a preemptive strike against funding cuts to SNAP by Republicans who argue the program breeds abuse and dependency.